Polyvinyl building and construction materials are increasing in popularity due to their light weight, which greatly simplifies shipping, handling and installation, and also due to their durability in adverse weather conditions, which greatly increases their service life. Polyvinyl materials do not need to be periodically painted or preserved, which greatly lowers maintenance costs, and modern Ultra-Violet inhibitors prevent UV breakdown of polyvinyl materials for many years. However, in order to be cost competitive with wood and other traditional construction materials, and in order to have the needed strength and stiffness properties, such polyvinyl materials typically must be extruded as hollow tubular members. Extruded members are cheaper and easier to mass produce than are conventional molded members, and extruded members can be easily formed with internal reinforcing ribs or webs to add strength and stiffness. As such, the hollow extruded members offer a long lasting, low maintenance, and cost effective alternative for traditional wood floor members, such as on decks, floors, porches, marine docks and similar applications.
Unfortunately, the polyvinyl floor or decking members cannot be nailed or otherwise assembled according to traditional construction methods, because nails or screws driven directly through the plastic are likely to cause stress risers and/or cracking. Therefore, the hollow extruded members require special mounting brackets or cleats in order to secure the members to the supporting frame or structure.
On most existing polyvinyl decking systems, the decking members have a series of openings in the bottom surface, and the members are snapped onto mounting brackets or clips that have been attached to the top of the joist or support structure. Another prior art approach utilizes U-shaped mounting clips that are attached to the top of the joist. The decking members are secured to the upwardly extending legs of the mounting clip. Such prior art systems have a number of drawbacks, including relatively high material costs and relatively long installation time, and on many such systems it is difficult to properly align the holes in the deck members with the pre-installed clips. Moreover, if the pre-installed clips are not mounted properly the decking members may move or "wander" slightly, giving the deck an unsightly and unprofessional appearance.
Another drawback with prior art methods is that polyvinyl, like all construction materials, flexes slightly under load. On conventional wood decks such flexing is almost completely unnoticeable. However, on plastic or polyvinyl decks such flexing often creates an unnerving and unpleasant squeak or creaking sound. For many reasons, most consumers consider such squeaking and creaking a very undesirable attribute. Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved polyvinyl decking system that is cost effective to produce and install, and that does not have any of the unfavorable characteristics that plague prior art polyvinyl decking systems.
The present invention utilizes extruded tubular decking members that have internal reinforcing webs to maximize flexural strength and stiffness. The present invention also utilizes a unique mounting bracket or cleat that fits between adjacent decking members and maintains the proper spacing between deck members and also secures the deck members to each other and to the supporting joists. In order to reduce or even eliminate squeaking, the cleat is formed of hardened acetone. Also, because the wood joists and the plastic deck have very different thermal expansion coefficients, the cleat includes a longitudinal expansion slot that eliminates binding or buckling that could results from the expansion and contraction of the finished structure due to temperature changes.
Each deck member includes a first side that is secured to the supporting joists by the cleat, and a second side that engages the cleat on the first side of the preceding adjacent member. Both sides of each deck members include a series of horizontal slots that engage the cleats, and the slots are spaced to match the distance between the supporting joists. The cleats are located between adjacent deck members, and secure the deck members to the joists and to each other. Each cleat includes a pair of oppositely facing protrusions that fit into the slots in the sides of the adjacent deck members. The protrusion on one side of the cleat is sized to snap tightly into the slot on the first side of each member, while the second smaller protrusion on the other side fits into but is slightly smaller than the slot on the second side of the next adjacent member, leaving a small gap between the sides of the protrusion and the ends of the slot. Thus, the installer has some degree of flexibility when installing each member, which eliminates the progressive wander referred to above.
To assemble the deck, the installer snaps the cleat into the slot on the first side of a member, and then secures the member in place by connecting the cleat to the joist by fastening a screw or nail through the slotted expansion hole. The installer then places the second side of the subsequent adjacent member next to the first side of the installed preceding member, so that the second protrusion of the installed cleat engages the slot in the second side of the subsequent member. The cleat in the slot on the first side of the subsequent member is then secured to the joist. The process is then repeated with each subsequent member.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved polyvinyl or plastic deck system.
It is another object of this invention to provide a polyvinyl or plastic deck that can be installed faster and more efficiently than prior art decks.
A further object of this invention is to provide a polyvinyl or plastic deck that eliminates binding or buckling cause by unequal thermal expansion.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a polyvinyl or plastic deck that does not squeak.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings.